First Time RF Build

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » February 8th, 2018, 11:44 am

I'm carrying this over from my intro post, so here it is... again, in a more appropriate location.

Here's what I've got, it's basically a shell of a potentially good smoker. It has the firebox and cooking chamber with doors in place. It uses a 24" diameter .375" wall round pipe that measures 48 inches in length for the cooking chamber and 24 inches in length for the firebox. The measured throat opening (football shape) is 19.25" by 10.50", approximately, which I think is a little on the "too big" side of things. I also believe the cooking chamber door is cut out too low and hinged in the wrong location, but there is not much I can do about this.

It's already mounted on a 48" x 72" single axle trailer and offset to one side. I want to turn this unfinished project into a reverse flow smoker and need some help in finishing the construction of it. The firebox door and cooking chamber door are already in place but the hinges need to be reworked, as they rub when opening. Being that I'm not a smoker builder, any and all help that can be provided will certainly be appreciated. I will post pics as soon as I figure out how to do this, your suggestions here will also help.

Thanks in advance for any help and all the knowledge that will be gained here. Looking forward to finishing this build and doing my first smoke with it.

Pictures will come as soon as I figure out how to post them here. Do I need a hosting service for my pictures? Recommendations anyone?

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » February 8th, 2018, 1:03 pm

gmbbq wrote:Do I need a hosting service for my pictures? Recommendations anyone?

I upload directly to the site from my phone using the tapatalk app and it works good for me...and the bonus is that the pictures don't disappear when the hosting sites change their protocols.

Too much is just right!

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » February 8th, 2018, 1:06 pm

It loads up like this...

Tap the arrow in the top right corner and it uploads and posts the pictures.

Too much is just right!

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » February 8th, 2018, 4:47 pm

Good deal! Now to get the Tapatalk app on my phone. Thanks!

The Czar · Post by **The Czar** » February 9th, 2018, 2:10 am

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » February 9th, 2018, 6:24 pm

The Czar wrote:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Tough crowd here.

Anyhow, as promised, here are some pics. If there are any other pics needed from another angle or close up let me know. I'll do my best to get them in here as quickly as I can.

As you can see it's pretty bare and I'm needing help with a variety of construction tips. .i.e BP opening size, chimney size, counterweight build, etc...

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

mp4 · Post by **mp4** » February 9th, 2018, 6:43 pm

Looks good!

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » February 9th, 2018, 7:17 pm

Any other suggestions regarding this build as it pertains to the trailer empty space, I'm all ears. I plan to attend a few local BBQ competitions in the area and want to be equipped as well as possible, without getting too crazy. I feel this might be unavoidable but limited to the rated 1700 lbs capacity of the trailer.

Post by **Big T** » February 9th, 2018, 10:47 pm

It looks like a good start to a nice smoker but I see a couple of major issues. I do believe that there's a pretty easy fix that wouldn't require cutting it apart and starting over. 1) The FB is 150% of the recommended size, 115% is the maximum size for the FB 2) The throat appears to be way oversize which presents another issue. The top of the throat appears to be almost even with the bottom of the door cut so the BP would actually be even with the bottom rack and it needs at least 2'' of spacing, I prefer 3.5''-4'' personally. I think you could correct both of these issues by building a false ceiling in the FB, which would correct the volume issue. It would also allow you to close the throat down to the correct size which should allow you to drop the BP down giving you the rack spacing that you need. You might have to rework the FB door depending on how far the ceiling drops down. The bad part of this is that I'm not sure how to refigure the volume of the FB so that you know how much you need to block off. I should've paid more attention in geometry class, if it were here in front of me I could figure it out but I can't do it on paper. I believe that Pete Mazz or some of the other guys could help you and Pete may even have a calculator in the smoker builder calculators that can figure it for you. Oh and don't pay too much attention to The Czar, he doubts everyone.

Post by **Pete Mazz** » February 10th, 2018, 6:45 am

To get to ideal size for throat and FB you'd need to add an 18.5" wide plate to top and bottom of inside of FB.

dportz87 · Post by **dportz87** » February 11th, 2018, 3:11 pm

you have a good start to a really good smoker.

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » February 13th, 2018, 7:29 pm

Thanks for the tips guys.

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » March 18th, 2018, 9:23 am

It's been a little while, so here's an update on the progress of this RF smoker build. More photos to come.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » March 18th, 2018, 5:32 pm

Looks like some great progress.

Post by **Big T** » March 18th, 2018, 8:40 pm

Are you going to close off the dead space above the FB from the CC ?

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » March 18th, 2018, 9:58 pm

Big T wrote: Are you going to close off the dead space above the FB from the CC ?

In short, no. It may open some discussion though. Why, should I? If so, why?

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Post by **Big T** » March 18th, 2018, 10:30 pm

I've never seen one done like this so I don't have any way to know exactly what will happen with the extra space ,if anything. I know that the top of my FB gets extremely hot and that heat is lost into the atmosphere. You may find that it draws the extra heat into the CC which could make it a little hotter on that end or you may not notice any temperature difference at all. I will say that my O.C.D. wouldn't let me leave it open but that's a whole different story there.. lol

Dirtytires · Post by **Dirtytires** » March 19th, 2018, 12:00 am

My fear would be of a dropped chicken leg or grease betting trapped in the area and hard to clean. Not to mention grease dripping into the fire and and ruining a cook. I would close it as well.

However, my tastes for a smoker would most likely cause me to cut the top off the smoke box to make it flat. It would allow access to the plate that is otherwise not weldable AND it would allow you to warm up a pot of beans or sauce on the flattop.

But custom means “build it like you want it”.

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » March 19th, 2018, 8:00 am

Thanks for the feedback guys. I do plan to leave that area open, you'll understand as I roll out more pictures. It will likely raise some questions. I'm building this with my brother and we are asking questions along the way to one another and the typical response goes something like this "I don't know, let's try it. If it doesn't work we'll just redo it." That's been our thought process thus far.

As far as grease getting in there I do plan to weld a dam in place to prevent this very thing from happening. The plate you see in the first picture extends all the way into the firebox and is welded to prevent unintended flames from entering the cooking chamber.

Oh, and that nasty hinge you see in the pictures above has been eliminated and updated with something really cool, a picture of this coming along shortly.

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » March 19th, 2018, 8:04 am

Here's the revamped hinge assembly. The all-thread was used to align the hinges and will be replaced.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Stewart · Post by **Stewart** » March 19th, 2018, 8:24 am

Very sharp good work pal your coming along nicely. I would suggest the grease dam and on your open end weld in a piece of that #9. I did in mine and I'm glad it's saved me from a few run away chickens lol. As far as your trailer rig goes sky's the limit or is it axle weights the limit? I can't remember. Propane turkey fryers always a good idea with a griddle top and a disco. Before long you will need a bigger trailer lol. Good luck.

Post by **Big T** » March 19th, 2018, 4:02 pm

Very nice hinges

One of the main reasons for building your own cooker is so that you can incorporate your own ideas. I'm the same way when it comes to trying something different, unless someone tells me that they've tried it and it was a disaster then I go for it. It's like they say, it's only metal, if it doesn't work out you can cut it off and try again.

gmbbq · Post by **gmbbq** » March 21st, 2018, 12:02 pm

Onto the firebox construction. As suggested in an earlier post, the firebox was too big. It was suggested that an 18.5" plate be installed at the top and bottom of the firebox to help reduce the internal dimensions.

Well, we did that for the top as you can see in the first picture. That's looking from the firebox end toward the cooking chamber.

I didn't quite employ the same idea for the bottom to further reduce the internal dimension, as you can see in the remaining pics. As you'll see, I used firebrick to reduce the internal volume.

All parts in the firebox are serviceable, if the need every arises. Used a cast iron door from one of those kits you can purchase to make a 55 gallon drum stove. A clean out/draft door fits real nice underneath this door.

More pics later as things progress.

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ajfoxy · Post by **ajfoxy** » March 21st, 2018, 4:42 pm

Nice.

Post by **Rodcrafter** » March 21st, 2018, 5:50 pm

Yep nice work!

Making memories!

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